


Little Boy Found

by White_Noise



Series: The Other Life of Quentin Holmes, Quartermaster [2]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), Sherlock (TV), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Q is a Holmes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-02
Updated: 2012-12-02
Packaged: 2017-11-20 02:25:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/580252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/White_Noise/pseuds/White_Noise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hacking into MI6s server is a one way ticket to a jail cell. Unless, it seems, your name is Holmes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Boy Found

**Author's Note:**

> Another Bondlock for my series, this time looking at how Quentin Holmes became Q. Still, I'm having fun. And I got to throw around some theories I have had so I am happy.
> 
> Like normal, dedicated to Cathryn, my beta and all round amazing person.
> 
> Ok, so some of the little things I worked in here just so no one has to ask.
> 
> Firstly, I recently discovered that the Q in the books name was supposed to be Boothroyd. I kinda like it so it has now been added.
> 
> Secondly, I was looking into the character of R and I now have this theory that R is the title for Qs 'right hand man' or assistant rather then an actual person.
> 
> Thirdly, I have referenced the six MI6 agents who died when Silva bombed the building. I have never seen anything mentioning who they were so I made it up.
> 
> Lastly, to avoid confusion, in the first half of this story, Q is a different person. It is not our Skyfall Q. I did think of making him one of the other Qs but gave up when I couldn't remember how either of them sounded I decided against it. So hopefully everyone will just see the Q they want to see instead of me trying to copy a character.

There was a Holmes boy sitting in her interrogation cell.

M was certain she should be worried by this turn of events.

When the aged Quartermaster had informed her that his hackers had discovered a breach in MI6’s server, visions of terrorists had filled her head, a dark organisation or two, trading national secrets for money and infamy, the security of her beloved country now at risk.

Q branch had been thrown into a panic, all available field agents had been recalled and MI6 had shut down as the Quartermaster’s team of hackers had struggled on, trying to uncover a trace of the individual or individuals involved.

Like a trail of bread crumb, the trace had travelled all over the world before finally, an amazing moment of luck had pin-pointed the culprit to a small student flat in central London. And sitting in the tiny kitchen of that flat, as if waiting for MI6’s response, had been one, Quentin Boothroyd Holmes, youngest brother of the British Government’s greatest operative, Mycroft Holmes.

M almost wished that it had been terrorists. Terrorists would have been simple, the procedures already set. Offenders were automatically imprisoned without trial if they came quietly, a bullet in the head if they didn't. Minimal media to prevent a panic and a quick interrogation of the suspect in order to calculate the risks of a repeat before field agents would be dispatched to deal with any possible fallouts.

But, this was not a terrorist. Mycroft Holmes was a vindictive man who had influence in a majority of the British Government and would certainly not let the arrest of his younger brother go unchallenged. And given the number of times he had bailed out another certain family member, M knew he was well versed in getting his siblings out of trouble using any means necessary.

The fact that the young man in question had also managed to humiliate some of the greatest minds in MI6 and gain the unquestioned admiration of Q had been secondary in M’s mind.

The Quartermaster had repeatedly commented on the subtlety, the poetry of the young man’s work, noting how the young man had never actually stolen any information but simply made enough noise to direct his hackers to several backwall entrances into MI6s server.

In a way, as Q had pointed out, the young man had in fact helped in finding any deadly flaws which could potentially be exploited by less desirable characters.

Now Q wanted to know how. And M had her own question.  
   
Why?

The young man had been detained, several field agents escorting him to MI6 and the interrogation room he was now locked inside. As per standard procedures, the young man had been handcuffed to the table and endured a round of questioning from some of MI6’s top operatives.

He had been seemingly open and honest in his answers, claiming that he had hacked into the database simply because he could. He hadn't copied any of the information he had found, he was not an operative of any terrorist cells or whistle blowing websites. He was simply a curious citizen who had decided to make a point regarding national security.

The interrogation had been filmed, the footage sent to M’s private laptop in her office, where she had watched it with Q hanging over her shoulder and commenting on the genius of the boy. Even M had found a grudging respect for him, the man who had beaten MI6.

But there was still one unanswered question: What to do with the young Mr Holmes now.

Even without the terrorist links, what Mr Holmes had done was still illegal and by all rights, he should be facing jail time. However, he was the youngest member of the Holmes family, a very influential family in the British Government.

The Holmes family had been involved in the workings of the United Kingdom for generations and members of the family had held just about every position in the government at one point in time from deputy Prime Minister to the personal adviser to the Royal family. There had been Holmes' in Churchill's bunker and Holmes' in the Royal Court.

Even M’s own job had Holmes influence. Mycroft Holmes, the great grandfather of both the Holmes in the cell and of his sibling and namesake currently in the Government, had held the position of Head of MI6 and introduced the title of M.

The Holmes' had contributed to just about every major decision in the United Kingdom for many generations. It made them a very powerful family.

Imprisoning Quentin, no matter how justified, would certainly upset a few high placed officials and bring into question just how a young man had managed to hack into such a secure server. MI6 was already suffering a backlash for its continued use of human elements in this digital age and this incident would certainly prove a potentially deadly point.

No, the boy couldn't be imprisoned. But he couldn't be released either. That sort of intelligence, that sort of skill, if left unchecked, could become a huge security risk if the boy fell into enemy hands.

So, they couldn't let the boy go, but they couldn't imprison him either. That only left one option.  
   
Certainly the most preferable of all the options. Quentin Holmes had managed to hack into MI6s server. Now, he was going to be the one to fix all the flaws he found.

M said as much to Q, ignoring how the old Quartermaster’s face lit up at the idea of utilizing such skills, of taking the young man under his wing.

Of course, it would have to be as a consultant, at least at first. All employees at MI6 had to have some basic training as a field operative to gain permanent employment and regardless of his family, Quentin Holmes would not be the exception. Of course, there is the chance that he wouldn't agree to employment, in which case M could see no other option except to imprison him and pray that she could weather whatever Mycroft threw at her.

Thankfully it didn't come to that in the end. Quentin seemed interested in the offer and accepted, allowing the security guard, who had ghosted the room through the whole interrogation, to unlock the handcuffs and pull him to his feet before Q grabbed at him and bodily pulled him out of the room with full intention of showing him the joys of Q branch.

M had reminded the Quartermaster that the boy still needed security clearance before she had retreated to her office and undoubtedly the threatening messages from an annoyed Government official named Mycroft Holmes.

\-------

It was a few days after the incident dubbed Skyfall and the members of MI6 were gathered in the cemetery to witness the end.

M was dead, Silva too. Bond was....well, he was in mourning. Quentin had been MI6’s Quartermaster for only a few weeks and so far he had attended seven funerals, ending with the woman who had recruited him. Seven funerals, six of them for innocent bystanders including the first victim of Silva's attack on MI6, the old Q. Quentin, who had recently been promoted to Q’s right hand man, under the code name R, had been down in Q branch, working on finding the stolen hard drive and was protected from the blast but Q, the old Q, had been in the briefing room with two field agents, a security officer and another junior member of Q branch, debriefing from an earlier mission.

 All five had been caught in the blast which had detonated in M’s office and were killed instantly. The sixth victim, one of M’s assistants, had survived the blast but died from her injuries before she could get medical assistance.

Q wasn't stupid enough to think that M had been innocent in everything which had happened. He had watched the footage from Silva's interrogation and, he had been in Bonds ear during the later events.

Still, as he watched the coffin lower into the grave, he couldn't help but think about her, the woman who had found him.

The relationship between himself and M had always need strange. Her distrust for him for the hacking incident had twisted over the years into a grudging respect and even a sort of trust although Mycroft still seemed to be a sore spot. More than once, Quentin had been on the receiving end of a rant against his oldest brother.

And yet, despite this, Quentin had liked M. He had been young and stupid (well, stupid by Holmes standards, which was very different from the general population) when he had first met her and she had been far within her rights to have him arrested and charged.  
   
But she didn't.  
   
She had given him a chance, let him prove himself and work up to becoming a full member of MI6. She had accepted his promotion from one of the many faceless hackers to the position of the Quartermasters assistant and when the old Q died, she had immediately appointed him as the new Q. She had sent him to meet with 007 and trusted him to handle her favourite agent with care.

She had been kind to him. Now it was his turn to return the favour.

Looking up, Q spotted Bond, standing on the other side of the grave between Mallory and Moneypenny. Bond was a mess, face twisted in grief and it seemed that only the presence of Eve and Mallory was keeping him steady.

Bond didn't have a home. Q knew that much. Everything he did have was either sold away during his 'death' or in the wreckage of Skyfall. He had nothing left. No home, no positions, no ties.

M would hate this. Would hate that her favourite agent could drift away without her there to talk or, more likely, bully some sense into him.

But she wasn't here. Mallory didn't have enough pull to truly keep Bond steady and Eve was too far gone in her own grief to handle Bond. It was all up to Q.

Luckily, he had a spare room, a big heart and an impressively high tolerance towards bad tempered assholes (thank you, Sherlock) which should easily cross over to drunken, hair triggered secret agents.

Q was Bond’s Quartermaster, his handler, the voice in his ear. It was Q’s job to do whatever he could to keep Bond fighting fit and ready for anything.

It seemed that at this moment, what Bond needed was a friend.  
   
And Q could easily be that friend.


End file.
